This would be the first time that Verizon will publish such
reports that would be easily accessible to shareholders.

New York-based Verizon, the second-largest U.S. telephone
company by revenue, announced the move on Thursday following
pressure from activist investors concerned about the role of
network operators in government spying operations.

Last month, the investors pushed Verizon and AT&T Inc
to disclose details on their sharing of customer information
with government agencies..

The Verizon move may put pressure on AT&T to follow suit. It
also comes a day after a White House-appointed panel proposed
curbs on various U.S. National Security Agency operations,
including a halt to bulk collection of phone call records.

The reforms draw on revelations by former NSA contractor
Edward Snowden, including the disclosure of close ties between
spy agencies and technology firms. Verizon nodded to the
concerns in its statement and called on "governments around the
world to provide more information on the types and amounts of
data they collect and the legal processes that apply when they
do so."

Verizon promised to publish online reports with data on the
number of law enforcement requests for customer information it
receives in the United States and other countries in which it
does business.

It said it would publish its first report early next year
with data on 2013 requests. Verizon will update the information
twice a year after that to provide more transparency.

Previously, Verizon tended to disclose such data in response
to ad hoc requests from legislators rather than broadly
publishing the data.

Verizon's move toward greater disclosure follows similar
initiatives from tech companies such as Google Inc and
Yahoo Inc. Silicon Valley, worried about a customer
backlash, has also called for greater transparency around U.S.
government requests for user information. Until now, telephone
companies like Verizon had been much less outspoken than their
technology and Internet counterparts.

A Verizon spokesman, Robert Varettoni, said the company was
already making plans for an online transparency report before it
received the shareholder requests in November.

Still, advocates including Massachusetts Senator Edward
Markey, praised Verizon's approach as a way to make disclosures
more routine. Markey, a Democrat, had been tracking growing
government use of wireless surveillance.

"Verizon is taking an important step toward transparency,
and I call on the other wireless carriers to follow its lead and
regularly disclose their law enforcement requests for wireless
information," Markey said in a statement.

BALANCING ACT: PRIVACY VS SECURITY

Verizon shareholders had proposed a proxy resolution for the
company's springtime shareholder meeting, calling for it to
issue reports on its cooperation with government agencies.

One of the proxy resolution's backers, Jonas Kron of
Trillium Asset Management in Boston, said Verizon's plan looked
positive, at least at first glance.

He added that the shareholder group had not yet spoken with
Verizon and would need more time to decide whether or not they
would withdraw their request for a vote at Verizon's springtime
shareholder meeting.

The decision will hinge on factors such as how much detail
Verizon plans to publish about its interactions with law
enforcement, he said.

In a statement e-mailed later on Thursday, Kron also urged
Verizon to "do more and to be an active participant in
implementing reforms that provide genuine and principled privacy
protections for citizens around the world."

Earlier this month, AT&T asked regulators to let it ignore a
similar proxy proposal from its shareholders.

Asked if it might follow Verizon's latest move, an AT&T
spokesman said, "While we have disclosed a lot of information in
this area, we are always exploring ways to do more."

One of the shareholders pressing AT&T is New York State
Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who oversees a retirement fund for
state workers. In a statement, DiNapoli praised Verizon's move
and said that AT&T should follow its lead.

Verizon said its report will show the number of law
enforcement agency requests received in criminal cases and would
break out this data under categories such as subpoenas, court
orders and warrants.

It also said that it would provide details about legal
demands it receives in requests for information in emergencies.
It said it is working with the U.S. government regarding the
detail it can report on the number of National Security Letters
it received last year. But it said that its report will not
disclose information about other national security requests
received by the company.

Verizon said it has a legal obligation to provide customer
data to law enforcement, but it added: "We take seriously our
duty to provide such information only when authorized by law."